Our region wide powerdown project continues... and the importance of relocalisation groups....

It's certainly taking a lot longer than I would like to get our region into serious powerdown action. Our EDAP is still underway - but that is okay. I've heard of other groups planning on taking one year to do theirs, and we are still well within that timeframe.

The Energy Descent Action Plan will be our plan of strategies and what needs to be done. It's our list of wishes, hopes, demands, and requests.

It covers education programs, demonstration sites, celebratary events, incentives and disincentives, and much more. The relocalisation network and the Transition Initiatives Network will be the way we engage the community to get all those actions underway.

While that is happening on a regional level, I've been working hard on getting my local town - Eudlo on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland Australia - into energy descent planning. The main catalyst for this has been creating a relocalisation group. We are now about to celebrate our one year anniversary with a community picnic in the park.

Over the past year we've developed links with local like minded people and the broader community - it seems everyone pretty much wants the same thing - we're just coming at it from different angles. Of course, our group is feeling the urgency of energy descent and has a much bigger picture of how important this all is.

It's great to look back on our past year - we've started up Permablitz working bees and created gardens in people's backyards, and helped those of us who are well established get even further ahead.

We've made raised vegie beds, compost systems, chook yards, green manure crops... we've fed and mulched fruit trees, weeded, planted, propagated, and more importantly, talked, sung and ate some great shared meals. We've also laughed a lot!

We've started a seed saving group, a bulk buying group and our newest project is starting a full-on co-operative! This is something I'm particularly excited about!

We're also researched grain types and grain crop growing, milling and setting up some type of social network with the local town hall committee.

Doing this on the ground, being part of a relocalisation group, being part of making my community more resilent, planning for a future with less oil, actually taking positive action... it has all been so worth it!

We are also a Transition Region (part of the UK network through Rob Hopkins), and we are starting to get a lot of interest about this - I wonder if it's because Australian's have stronger links with the UK (through families etc) than the US. I've found most people who know about TRs have a relative or someone they know well in the UK...

As I travel (the bane of peak oil presenters I know!) being able to actually demonstrate how a group can work on the ground at grassroots level has been absolutely invaluable. I'm walking the walk and talking the talk.

People are surprised how easy it is and they find what we are doing in Eudlo very inspiring.

If you are considering starting a group, thinking about taking things a little further in your area - I urge you to give it a go. It may not be the exact right time, but it soon will be.

Well done to the relocalisation teams around the world and thanks,
Sonya